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“You know how sometimes you try to fit in, but you stand out like a man in a rabbit costume on fire?”

Zero: Exile II sets out to answer the big questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What is real?

Most songs on Exile II are written from the perspective of Zero, whose life-changing near-death experience has pushed him from ordinary mind to Beyond Mind.

“Most people run through life without really thinking about it. They’re just getting by. I’ve tried that. I was a drone in their machine, ‘till one day, I broke free.”

Exile II continues of the story of Zero, a nothing guy living an ordinary life until he finds himself in an alternate, surreal dimension of reality where he starts to question fundamental notions of his own existence.

Notes: Zru Vogue released The Exile, part I, in 2006. "Penetrating Octavia" and "No Occupancy" appear on the 2018 vinyl-only compilation Zru Vogue: Assembly For Body Movements on the French label Musiques Electroniques Actuelles.

credits

released October 11, 2011

Zero: Exile II was conceived, written, produced, and mixed by Andrew Lawrence Jackson and Rick Cuevas. Performed by Jackson, Cuevas, and Patrick Coyne (drums and percussion).

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Zru VogueSan Francisco, California

Official website of ZRU VOGUE. // Avant-Pop, Art-Funk, Surrealist Indie Rock from the San Francisco Bay Area. Zru Vogue's
first single "Nakweda Dream" (1981) is an early post-punk classic. Band members Andrew Lawrence Jackson, Rick Cuevas, and Patrick Coyne continue to create inspired new music for postmoderns....more

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Capturing flies like a
Pedigreed troubadour
Salty in fashions that
Speak the unspoken
Dreaming of Barbies
Twisted and broken

Under earth
This simple lie
Reveals your secret
Blinds your eye

Not for the shy
Not for the tame
Lose your mind
To find your name
--
Lyrics copyright 2011 Andrew L. Jackson

Track Name: The Okay Talk

Lyrics:

Zero here.
I’m not sure you remember me.
Truth is, I’m not sure I remember me.
You know, most people run through life without really thinking about it.
They’re just getting by.
I’ve tried that.
I was a drone in their machine.
‘till one day, I broke free.
And it was weird there, but I learned to like it, in this other place.
Then one day again, bam! I’m back!
Or am I?
I kinda freaked out.
And then I realized.
Hey, I’m here.
I am who I am, you know?
I’m only Zero, but I’m okay... I’m okay.

Come back to the one
Come back to the one
Who found you, who fed you
Come back to the one

She drives your hunger
She steers your desires
Your fate is in her hands
As she stokes the fires
The Goddess you melt before
The Queen that you waited for
Why were you away so long?
Where have you gone?

Come back to the one
Come back to the one
Who found you, who made you
Come back to the one

There is only one direction
There is only one connection
There is only one reflection
There is only one
There is only one intention
There is only one perfection
There is only one
There is only one

Back when this life
Was so sweet and easy
Was it all a dream?
Why am I so queasy?
The Goddess I melt before
The Queen that I waited for
Why was I away so long?
Where have I gone?

Come back to the one
Come back to the one
Who found you, who fed you
Come back to the one
Who found you, who made you
Come back to the one

There is only one direction
There is only one connection
There is only one reflection
There is only one
There is only one intention
There is only one perfection
There is only one
There is only one
--
Lyrics by Andrew L. Jackson

Track Name: Second Chances

Lyrics:

Stabbing the future
To regenerate the past
None of it is serious
None of it will last

You know how sometimes you try to fit in,
But you stand out like a man in a rabbit costume on fire?
You know how sometimes you want to blend in,
But you smell like a monkey’s uncle drenched in after-shave?

Well, I do. And that’s when I realize…

When your life is winking
But your eyes aren’t blinking, but your eyes aren’t blinking
When your ship is sinking
And your bathtub’s leaking, and your bathtub’s leaking
When your cell is syncing
And your mind is shrinking, and your mind is shrinking
When they pull the plug
And your reds are pinking, and your reds are pinking

Realize : Real Eyes

Foreign objects on the fly!
Lovely robots objectified!
Pop, pop, pop - pop go the creases!
Crack, crack, crack – crack up in pieces!
It’s instrumental to your vision
It’s the key to your next indecision
Where will they make your next incision?
Where will they make your next incision?

Now it’s all going according to plan
But this plan, it’s not your plan
And when some unknown chaotic dandy
Sells your soul for cotton candy
When they pull the plug and your bathtub’s leaking
When your ship is sinking and your eyes aren’t blinking

Stripes, dots, ragged thoughts
Dots, stripes, it’s a life
Battles fought, battles lost
Words won, lines crossed
A life reflected, paused & played
Stop the world, I want to get paid
I came to you immersed in need
Now these needy thoughts are freed

Zero-1-2-3, Zero-1-2-3
This is not me
I am not “me”

We’re learning as we go along
When you’re right you can’t go wrong
A dotted line direct report
To someone new you’ve never met
Pull the rug out underfoot
Speak the words you’ll soon forget
You are not me, I am not me
In this lost moment, this day between days
In this lost moment, this hour between hours
I read between the lines
I write between the lies
Another version of me
Is standing by
Waiting to be
In its due time
Just let go – to make it so

I came back around, awake to the sound
She came back around, awake to the sound
Awake in my eyes, awake in my mind
Awake to what’s false, awake to the grind
Woke up to your eyes, woke up to your lies
Woke up from a dream, woke up with a scream
I came back around, awake to the sound
I came back around, to find what I found

My tears run down the streets
Of Vogue Town
My tears run down the streets
Of Vogue Town

Are they tears of laughter?
Or tears of joy?
Are they tears of relief?
Listen girls and boys,
We’re all in this together
Some of us more than others
So run out in the streets
Or hide out under the covers
Cause nothing is what it seems…
In Vogue Town

No nothing’s as it seems…
In Vogue Town

My home town, my home town, my home town, my home town

Come back home, to where you’ve always been
Now throw off your frown, and give us a grin
There’s nothing lose when no one can win
And every little girl gives it her own spin
Paper play money lines the streets
Of Vogue Town

Put your money down (put your money down)
Let your honey down (let it all run down)
Throw some poetry down (throw it down, down, down)

Show your happy face (put on your prettiest dress)
Leave without a trace (leave no forwarding address)
Ain’t no federal case (just get it off of your chest)